Trump Blinks on Tariffs, Again, for Now

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-tariffs-markets-investors-bonds-scott-bessent-trade-0d271750?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

 The President pauses on some tariffs amid a bond rout and recession fears.

President Trump says trade wars are easy to win. Investors think otherwise, and on Wednesday Mr. Trump decided maybe investors are right. After a flight from U.S. assets and a rout in the bond market, Mr. Trump announced a pause for 90 days on the worst of his “liberation” tariffs on most countries, China excepted.

Markets celebrated with a stock-market rally on hope that perhaps Mr. Trump isn’t entirely oblivious to the damage he’s causing. The rout in dollar assets reversed, at least somewhat, and the rise in the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield eased. It would be hard to find better evidence that markets believe the biggest threat to the world economy is Mr. Trump’s tariffs.

The bond rout was scary, with the 10-year yield hitting 4.47% at one point Wednesday, capping the steepest three-day yield climb since 2001. This was accompanied by a decline in the dollar against a basket of currencies. The fire sale on Treasurys and the dollar sent a warning about a loss of confidence in Washington. Investors are demanding higher yields to hold even safe Treasurys, which is the opposite of what usually happens in financial panics.

'Witch hunt': The global right-wing populist rallying cry threatening democracy

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-849474

This is a global movement – a slow-burning insurrection that seeks to replace the checks and balances of liberal democracy with elected autocracy.

The rule of law – meant to protect democracy from the excesses of power – is thus portrayed as a tool of tyranny. And today’s demagogues calculate that majorities will back them, ignorant of or indifferent to the possible abdication of their own basic rights.

Trump Cries Uncle on Tariff Crisis After Market Collapse

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-puts-tariffs-on-hold-amid-market-meltdown/

The freeze comes despite the president’s insistence that he would not back down.

President Donald Trump is backing down on his tariffs and putting levies on most countries on a 90-day freeze amid the global market crisis, he said Wednesday.

But after announcing the astonishing about-face, the president also said he is raising the stakes in his trade war with Bejing by ramping up China’s tariffs to a whopping 125 percent.

Trump Authorizes 90-Day Pause on Reciprocal Tariffs, Stocks Skyrocket

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-authorizes-90-day-pause-reciprocal-tariffs-stocks-skyrocket-2057589

Amid a global market meltdown, President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course by pausing most of his tariffs on U.S. trade partners for 90 days, while sharply increasing the tariff rate on Chinese imports to 125 percent.

"I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE," Trump said, after recognizing the more than 75 countries that he said have been negotiating on trade and had not retaliated against his latest increase in tariffs.

Speaking to reporters outside of the White House on Wednesday, the president said about this tariff pause, "I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy, you know. They were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid."

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said about the tariff pause, "I hope there's a lesson learned. When you add a bunch of tariffs, you'll lose six trillion in the marketplace. When you get rid of the tariffs, guess what, it comes bounding back."

Trump Urges Calm, Says 'Great Time to Buy' As Markets Convulse Over Tariffs

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-urges-calm-says-great-time-buy-markets-convulse-over-tariffs-2057490

President Donald Trump urged calm and said it's a 'great time to buy' in Wednesday morning social media posts as markets continue to convulse over his tariffs.

The president posted on Truth Social, "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT." He also posted, "BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!"

The S&P 500 slipped 0.7 percent in midday trading Tuesday after a turbulent start to the session. The index, a key benchmark for many 401(k) retirement accounts, swung wildly in the first hour—plunging 0.5 percent at the open, surging to a 1.4 percent gain, and then tumbling back into the red, all within minutes.

Mulvaney says he ‘would have fired’ Navarro during first Trump term

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5239921-mulvaney-says-he-would-have-fired-navarro-during-first-trump-term/

“I would have fired him when he got caught making up his academic sources with his Ron Vara imaginary friend,” Mulvaney said, pointing to Navarro’s 2019 scandal where he faked being one of his own academic sources. “But, I mean, that was Donald Trump’s call.”

“One of the things that makes him so difficult to work with is that he pretends to speak for the president when he does not,” he said. “Peter was notorious back during Trump 1.0 to walk out of a meeting when everybody would sort of assume we’ve got sort of a consensus about something and he would go on TV and say the exact opposite.”

“That has a tremendous demoralizing effect on the White House, and it does tend to mislead markets,” Mulvaney added.

Artificial insemination from a non-Jewish donor

Igros Moshe. (EH II #11) I received your very long letter, which was full of criticism against me,. concerning my ruling which was published in Igros Moshe about  artificial insemination which you believe will cause harm to the purity and holiness of the lineage of the Jewish People.  It is also obvious from your letter that you think I will object to your criticism.  The reality is the opposite. I see from your letter only that there are elevated people who are not afraid or embarrassed to give criticism.  However the truth is that there is nothing in what I wrote in that ruling, the slightest possibility of destroying the purity and holiness of the Jewish People.  It consists entirely of true Torah from the words of our teachers the Rishonim. Consequently your objections simply indicate that you have a different understanding which is based on non Torah sources which dismiss the words of gedolim in their understanding of G-d’s commandments and the holy Torah.  These external views turn prohibitions into permitted acts and that which is permitted becomes  prohibited. They are thus antithetical to Torah and halacha. This is true even for being strict as is know the tzadokim actually wanted to be stricter and consequently there were even rabbinic decrees made to go against these greater restrictions of the tzadokim. I am not Thank G-d  either from them or the masses. All my Jewish outlook is based entirely on my knowledge of Torah without the slightest mixtue of external knowledge. My rulings are true  whether for strictness or leniency. I not only am not influenced by non Torah views but I also don’t make up analysis based on emotion or personal bias even to be more strict than the halacha calls for or because I imagine it is a purer and holier path. Now let’s look at the nature of this halacha.  It is unquestionably clear that sexual sins require an act of sexual intercourse and have nothing to do with the sperm . Thus it is irrelevant for the sin whether the intercourse can result in children or not and thus applies to sterile people or whether it is natural or unnatural intercourse or even whether sperm is produced . Since the prohibition is entirely because of the act of intercourse  it is totally unrelated to the insertion of sperm into her body when there is no act of intercourse  no matter whether the sperm is a relative or someone else she with whom she is prohibited to have intercourse. Consequently she does not become prohibited to her husband nor does the resulting child become a mamzer by the insertion of sperm but only bt an act of prohibited intercourse. 

KA I am waiting for you to claim that Rav Moshe could not have wtitten this to someone who disagreed with his psak and it must have been written by Rav Shach!

Why Musk vs. Navarro Matters

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/elon-musk-peter-navarro-tariffs-donald-trump-white-house-e65d2467?mod=hp_opin_pos_3#cxrecs_s

The fight reflects the competing factions in Trump’s coalition.

This isn’t exactly Lincoln’s team of rivals, and we hesitate to devote attention to squabbling West Wing personalities, except that this feud illustrates the competing factions advising President Trump and that make up big chunks of his political coalition. Which side prevails more often is likely to determine whether Mr. Trump’s economic policy succeeds.

Mr. Musk is an erratic political messenger, but he’s right about at least two big things, and he also appears willing to speak truths that Mr. Trump is better off hearing. Mr. Musk believes in trade, and he recently said he hopes that the U.S. and Europe move “to a zero-tariff situation.” He has also pointed out, correctly, that most federal spending is for entitlement programs, though Mr. Trump has promised not to touch such benefits.

Trump's friendship with Israel is a double-edged sword

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-849389

Had Obama or former president Joe Biden announced direct talks with Iran, Netanyahu and his allies would have slammed the move.

Both the announcement and the prime minister’s silence reveal how different the US-Israel relationship is today compared to the Obama years, the last time a US president directly engaged with the Iranians.

But that support comes with a cost. In this case, the price is a loss of some autonomy. Given everything Trump has done for Israel, it is now politically unthinkable for Jerusalem to say “no” to this president.

Had Obama or former president Joe Biden announced direct talks with Iran, Netanyahu and his allies would have slammed the move. But not with Trump – a reminder that even the warmest friendships come with strings attached. In this case, that string is an inability to object.

Elon Musk rips ‘moron’ Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro: ‘Dumber than a sack of bricks’

 https://nypost.com/2025/04/08/us-news/elon-musk-rips-moron-trump-trade-adviser-peter-navarro/

Billionaire Elon Musk escalated his attacks against White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Tuesday, calling him a “moron” who’s “dumber than a sack of bricks.”

Musk responded Tuesday to the trade adviser’s suggestion on CNBC Monday that the Tesla boss was “not a car manufacturer” but “a car assembler.”

‘Historically awful’: Harry Enten on Trump’s net approval ratings

Donald Trump's Strong Disapproval Rating Surges

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-approval-rating-2026-midterms-2056747 

Donald Trump is facing a sharp rise in disapproval ratings similar to that of November, 2018, when the Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives, according to new polling data.

According to CNN pollster Harry Enten, Trump's disapproval rating is currently at a similar level to November 2018, when the Republicans lost the House in the midterms and the Democrats gained 41 seats. At the time, 42 percent disapproved of Trump's job performance, according to Enten's analysis.

Harry Enten said: "The Democratic protest, the idea of protesting Donald Trump, if the resistance was a little bit lacking at the beginning of Trump's second term, it is very much alive now. The protests are out there, and the interest in protesting Donald Trump is definitely there now."

Billionaire GOP Megadonor Rips Trump’s ‘Huge’ Trade War Mistake

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/billionaire-gop-megadonor-rips-trumps-huge-trade-war-mistake/

Ken Griffin joins a growing list of Trump loyalists who have spoken out against the aggressive tariff program.

A billionaire GOP megadonor has ripped into President Donald Trump over his latest tariffs, calling them 

a “huge policy mistake.”

According to a report from Bloomberg, Ken Griffin said that families making $50,000 annually are being told “it’s going to cost you 20 percent, 30 percent, 40 percent more for your groceries, for your toaster, for a new vacuum cleaner, for a new car.

“Even if the dream of jobs coming back to America plays out, that’s a 20-year dream. It’s not 20 weeks. It’s not two years. It’s decades.”

Mashgiach for Kashrus woman

Igros Moshe (Y.D. II #44):Question Concerning the widow of a talmid chachom who had a position as masghiach of kashrus and with his death she is destitute and has no way of providing for herself or her children. She is a modest woman and truly G-d fearing as well as being smart, understanding and responsible. She can relied upon and in fact was working under her husband’s supervision and that was her parnossa until he died. You want to know my view as to whether she can now serve i as a mashgiach? Answer From the aspect of believability, a women is fully believed concerning prohibitions. The basic law is that a single witness is believed for prohibitions. However some sources indicate that women are only believed for Rabbinic prohibitions. Tosfos explains that tasks which require great effort or matters she can’t control she is not believed. But that is only for matters which are presumed prohibited. Therefore supervising kashrus means she prevents people from eating that which is prohibited from food which is not presumed to be forbidden she is to be believed even if the food is not in her control. It has been standard practice in every generation to hire women to cook and buy meat and other foods and rely on them that it is kosher. . In conclusuion from the aspect of believability there is no problem that this women can serve as mashgiach since she is established as good woman with solid knowledge and understanding as the job requires. Howver there is a problem from a different aspect.  The Rambam states clearly that all positions of authority in Judaism can only be males. I don’t know the source for the Rambam’s ruling. The Sifrei that is cited by the Kesef Mishna and others  only states that the ruler must be a male king and not a female queen but no mention is made that all positions of authority must be male. It must be that the Rambam decided that on his own. . It is reasonable to say that a kashrus supervisor is considered a position of authority as Rashi notes that a supervisor over weights and measures is considered an appointment of authority since both positions require opposition to deviations from standards. Consequently the Rambam would prohibit a woman being appointed as mashgiach. . However it seems to me that not everyone agrees with the Rambam. The Chinuch and Tosfos seem to disagree  as do Rashi and the Ran  Thus it is not clear what the halachic status of the Rambam’s view is. Consequently in the case of great need such as the livelihood of this widow and her children one can rely on those that disagree with the Rambam and appoint her as mashgiach to replace her husband. However there is a way to appoint her which doesn’t conflict with the Rambam.  If she is officially hired by a rabbi  and is thus while she is not the official boss but she does the actual work and therefore she has no actual authority which is totally given to her boss.